ANCHOR DEVOTIONS (DECEMBER 18, 2012)

Many Herods

1 Timothy 6:11-16

They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
(REVELATION 17:14)

By the world's standards, Herod the Great was impressive. Tourists traveled long distances to see the Second Temple he built in Jerusalem - one of the wonders of the ancient world. Herod's family also built temples dedicated to Roman gods, like the one to Pan in Caesarea Philippi near Mount Hermon and the Disneyland-style Caesarea on the Mediterranean. Yet, this mad king did whatever it took to hold onto power, including issuing a mass killing of male children just in case the king of the Jews - a threat to his reign - had been born among them.

Herod the Great's son, another of many Herods, built a splendid palace and city called Tiberius on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Sound carries across water there. Perhaps Jesus heard the noises of the parties from that palace. Jesus and this Herod finally met in Jerusalem where he mocked the King of kings and then dismissed Him as if He were nobody, sending Him, ultimately, to His crucifixion. Imagine! Herod was a part of God's salvation plan for the world.
INSIGHT
ONE DAY ALL PEOPLE WILL KNEEL BEFORE THE CHRIST AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE IS LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS.

READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Numbers 10-11
Psalm 66
John 7

1 Timothy 6:11-16

New Living Translation (NLT)

Paul’s Final Instructions

¹¹ But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. ¹³ And I charge you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you obey this command without wavering. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. ¹⁵ For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. ¹⁶ He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO YOURSELF [PART 4]
with Milton Vincent

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Christian life is all about joy. But how can we know this joy that Paul speaks of? When our souls are downcast, we put our hope in Christ - our savior and our God.

ANCHOR DEVOTIONS (DECEMBER 17, 2012)

The Second Joshua 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 "'In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people.'" (ISAIAH 49:8) At 2,625 feet (800 meters), Mount Nebo towers above the Jordan River. Standing on Mount Nebo at sunset, I can look down and see the river winding its way through the valley, watering the fruit and vegetables growing on both sides in Jordan and Israel. Across the Jordan, the late afternoon sun reflects off rush-hour traffic in Jerusalem. Before 20th century modernization, you could see the land as Moses saw it, stretching all the way to the Mediterranean. Below I can see the oasis where Elijah ministered and was then taken up into heaven. Moses' successor, Joshua, led God's people into the land and conquered their enemies. The meaning of his name is significant. Joshua is the Hebrew name, which translated into Greek, is Yeshua, or Jesus in English; Joshua = Jesus = "God saves" or "God delivers" or "Yahweh is salvation". Joshua accomplished what Moses could not. As the greater Joshua, Jesus accomplished what Joshua could not, conquering sin and death and leading us triumphantly into the Promised Land. INSIGHT WHAT GOOD NEWS IT IS THAT CHRIST JESUS IS OUR GREATER JOSHUA - A MIGHTY SAVIOR WHO GIVES US VICTORY OVER SIN! READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR Numbers 8-9 Psalm 65 John 6 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 New Living Translation (NLT) Lessons from Israel’s Idolatry 10 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters,[a] about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”[b] 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. 9 Nor should we put Christ[c] to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. Footnotes: 10:1 Greek brothers. 10:7 Exod 32:6. 10:9 Some manuscripts read the Lord. PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO YOURSELF [PART 3] with Milton Vincent Have you ever thought you weren't good enough? We often forget that Jesus makes us pleasing to God through what He did for us and not anything we have done. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves.